Republic of Ireland Team Talk/News/Rumours 2020/2021 - see Mod Note in OP [18/11/20]

Mantis Toboggan

World Cup here we come

Morrison J

KevinK wrote: »

Didn’t see how any good could come of this game, lose, draw and win narrowly and it would be a big negative and win comfortably and so what... it’s Andorra.

Scoreboard aside, is a decent performance, showing any sign of progress at all too much to ask? We got none of that.

_Kaiser_

Richie with the much needed dose of reality there

Did you smash it

Salvage job from Parrott.

Don’t sack Kenny without due diligence and speaking to good quality candidates as that is the most likely ending to the current campaign.

Morrison J

Lachlan Some Shuffleboard wrote: »

I'm not happy with how the team is right now but you can root against them on your own I'll enjoy the good days

Does this count as a good day then or are you banking on Stephen Kenny delivering them in the future?

gmisk

Duff wrote: »

Liquid football lads.

That liquid is...piss?

Oat23

PGE1970 wrote: »

A team of any sort of repute or standing isn't playing a friendly against Andorra.

Could you sound like more of a snob? Seriously.

Where does this attitude come from amongst some of our fanbase? You think we are far better than we ever were. Even in our heyday.

Have a bit of class. They've played Hungary and Poland in the last week. We'd kill to be as far along the path as both of those organisations are now.

MD1990

good reaction to the Andorra goal.
Hopefully the win gives the team a bit of confidence.

Hungary are poor are are missing there best player. So a chance for another good result.

kksaints

Collins and Hourihane shouldn't be playing for us again based on Today's and previous performances.

Morrison J

Morrison J wrote: »

Does this count as a good day then or are you banking on Stephen Kenny delivering them in the future?

Nope not banking on him at all at this stage I was hopeful when he came in but the footballs fairly lethargic since.but is a 4-1 international win a good day? Absolutely

gmisk

kksaints wrote: »

Collins and Hourihane shouldn't be playing for us again based on Today's and previous performances.

Hourihane has had a very good season on loan at Swansea, in the right team and system he can be very good.

_Kaiser_

MD1990 wrote: »

Hungary are poor are are missing there best player. So a chance for another good result.

That's not exactly inspiring though is it?

It's like the commentry lads talking about how Andorra will tire from the pace - which is exactly what happened and only when we started to look like a team.

Someone else playing poorly doesn't make us better.

RonanG86

kksaints wrote: »

Collins and Hourihane shouldn't be playing for us again based on Today's and previous performances.

Collins at least tries. I can respect that, even if his first touch reminds me of a trampoline. It's a lack of technique that holds him back, not a lack of effort.
Obviously, I'd put him well behind Robinson and Long on ability, and I'd rather invest minutes in young lads like Parrott and Idah if the other established strikers are unavailable, but I'd still put him in the squad if we have an injury or two.

Hourihane though... he's trading off a freekick against Georgia from 3 years ago. He's never played well for us, and it's all just because he isn't brave enough to get on the ball and use that left foot of his to pick some passes out. He has ability, he just doesn't use it. Cannot stand players like that.

Morrison J

Lachlan Some Shuffleboard wrote: »

Nope not banking on him at all at this stage I was hopeful when he came in but the footballs fairly lethargic since.but is a 4-1 international win a good day? Absolutely

I suppose if you remove all context then it is yeah. I can't enjoy it though when performances show we're only going backwards.

Faugheen

gmisk wrote: »

Hourihane has had a very good season on loan at Swansea, in the right team and system he can be very good.

Hourihane is slow and lazy. He's good at set pieces but next to useless at everything else.

He was the same at Swansea if you ask any of their fans. When we're going through this transition you need players like him to step up and lead the way and he just doesn't.

kksaints

gmisk wrote: »

Hourihane has had a very good season on loan at Swansea, in the right team and system he can be very good.

Apart from a free kick against Georgia he has done nothing for us. Was poor again today and he doesn't get on the ball anywhere near enough in general play. He's not one for the future either.

breezy1985

KevinK wrote: »

Didn’t see how any good could come of this game, lose, draw and win narrowly and it would be a big negative and win comfortably and so what... it’s Andorra.

But there was something really good about Parrots two goals in a few minutes - had almost forgotten the positive feeling scoring brings I suppose ��
But in all seriousness we have played some decent games and some terrible games in the last few years and none of it really mattered as we couldn’t score goals. If we managed to develop a young teenage striker with the ability to belt them in regularly it could really change our fortunes, under Kenny or whoever replaces him.

If we are looking for positives I was mostly just happy to hear relatively new names both playing and scoring. The Ireland team of the last few years was the first one I really found it hard to care about. Even the Stan team had some players I loved to see in an Ireland jersey

Adamocovic

If anything hope this kickstarts us seeing Troy as a regular!

_Kaiser_

Adamocovic wrote: »

If anything hope this kickstarts us seeing Troy as a regular!

Comes across as a genuinely nice lad too.

Mr.Nice Guy

It was a fixture arranged by the FAI for the purpose of giving Kenny a win and scoring some goals, and, while he made very hard work of it, he got it. Ultimately, however, it accomplished little. Crowing about this win is the international equivalent of Burnley crowing about beating Crawley Town.

Our fortunes when it comes to qualifying for major tournaments will depend on how we fare against the pot 2, 3, 4 type sides - and ideally being able to pull off a big result against a pot 1 side. There is nothing in the Kenny reign so far that suggests we are capable of that. In fact, we are struggling against pot 5, 6 type outfits.

kksaints

RonanG86 wrote: »

Collins at least tries. I can respect that, even if his first touch reminds me of a trampoline. It's a lack of technique that holds him back, not a lack of effort.
Obviously, I'd put him well behind Robinson and Long on ability, and I'd rather invest minutes in young lads like Parrott and Idah if the other established strikers are unavailable, but I'd still put him in the squad if we have an injury or two.

Hourihane though... he's trading off a freekick against Georgia from 3 years ago. He's never played well for us, and it's all just because he isn't brave enough to get on the ball and use that left foot of his to pick some passes out. He has ability, he just doesn't use it. Cannot stand players like that.

There's no lack of effort from Collins but his first touch is woeful and his finishing doesn't seem much better. Might be an option as a sub if we need a goal and height but he shouldn't be anywhere near starting.

Faugheen

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

That's not exactly inspiring though is it?

It's like the commentry lads talking about how Andorra will tire from the pace - which is exactly what happened and only when we started to look like a team.

Someone else playing poorly doesn't make us better.

You shouldn't underestimate what confidence can do to a team. Up to tonight they seemed to be afraid of losing rather than going out to win. Then you had some players like Parrott and Knight stepping up and you could see the difference it made.

RonanG86

Adamocovic wrote: »

If anything hope this kickstarts us seeing Troy as a regular!

This is kinda the problem though - Troy needs to play regularly at club level as well as for us, or he'll go nowhere. Hopefully Tottenham will get a suitable loan for him next season.

Ditto Kelleher. The Liverpool fan in me wants him at Liverpool in case anything happens to Alisson, but from an Ireland perspective he needs to play regularly. The few appearances he made this season suggest he's a Premier League keeper.

Plenty of others who probably fall into this bracket.

Tchaikovsky

Hourihane was giving away a lot of stupid fouls in the first half too. I thought he'd locked himself in the jacks at half time he was so anonymous in the second half.

_Kaiser_

"When they get knackered and the 41 year old comes onto the pitch, they won't be able to stop us!"

Ah Richie. Gold!

dfx-

don't understand the criticism of the Andorra keeper for the second goal in the analysis. He kept it out and it came back off him.

It really strikes as looking for faults.

Edit: and the fourth. Keeper is not getting anywhere near that cross.

Hammer Archer

PGE1970 wrote: »

A team of any sort of repute or standing isn't playing a friendly against Andorra.

Italy played San Marino the other night. Switzerland played Liechtenstein this evening. Turkey are playing Moldova. Germany are playing Latvia and Spain are playing Lithuania next week.

ArielAtom

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Comes across as a genuinely nice lad too.

Hopefully he cuts his ties without the outside influences that could derail his career.

Mantis Toboggan

ArielAtom wrote: »

Hopefully he cuts his ties without the outside influences that could derail his career.

Hanging around with the kinahan cartel lads won't do him any good. Needs to get his head down and work really hard next few years for him are critical.

Nerdlingr

The female guest is good on RTE in fairness to her. Well spoken and gets her point across eloquently. What a change from a lot of the people (both male and female )they've had on in the past.

Did you smash it

dfx- wrote: »

don't understand the criticism of the Andorra keeper for the second goal in the analysis. He kept it out and it came back off him.

It really strikes as looking for faults.

Edit: and the fourth. Keeper is not getting anywhere near that cross.

Yeah don’t get it either, not a howler. Second could have been an o.g. But the kinahans will lean on anyone taking it off troy

Kermit.de.frog

Did you smash it wrote: »

But the kinahans will lean on anyone taking it off troy

What do mean by this comment?

siblers

Some weight off Kenny's shoulders in the interview,. He's Much more comfortable

Did you smash it

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

What do mean by this comment?

He hangs around with kinahans and (now deceased) members of the Gucci gang.

_Kaiser_

Kenny still awful in interviews. Even with a win finally under his belt.

Tchaikovsky

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Kenny still awful in interviews. Even with a win finally under his belt.

Ah give over

Nerdlingr

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Kenny still awful in interviews. Even with a win finally under his belt.

No wonder he referenced Osaka yesterday. He is so poor in expressing/explaining himself in front of the camera. Badly needs to up his media training.

Faugheen

Nerdlingr wrote: »

No wonder he referenced Osaka yesterday. He is so poor in expressing/explaining himself in front of the camera. Badly needs to up his media training.

He didn't reference anything. He was asked about it.

Nerdlingr

Faugheen wrote: »

He didn't reference anything. He was asked about it.

Fair enough. It was brought up and he empathised with her. We can see why. He's a very poor orator in front of the media.

_Kaiser_

Tchaikovsky wrote: »

Ah give over

Nerdlingr covered it, but the man exudes a lack of confidence and inability to express himself coherently in an interview.

If he's the same in the dressing room it would explain a lot.

MD1990

Easy to criticise Kenny for being poor in interviews posting on a forum tbh.

I wouldnt be too bothered about it.

Bigger issue is the lack of players we have.

_Kaiser_

MD1990 wrote: »

Easy to criticise Kenny for being poor in interviews posting on a forum tbh.

I wouldnt be too bothered about it.

Bigger issue is the lack of players we have.

It is, but it's also an issue if his inability to communicate confidently and clearly results in poor and mixed messages in training.

Faugheen

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

It is, but it's also an issue if his inability to communicate confidently and clearly results in poor and mixed messages in training.

How on Earth did you gather that?

For all we know, Kenny could be completely different on the training ground. To suggest someone who is watching what he says in a media interview is the same when the cameras are switched off is clutching at straws big time.

Morrison J

MD1990 wrote: »

Easy to criticise Kenny for being poor in interviews posting on a forum tbh.

I wouldnt be too bothered about it.

Bigger issue is the lack of players we have.

We blatantly don't have a manager to get the best out of them though no?

We were promised a team that would try and play football yet nearly a year in charge and we're resorting to long ball tactics as we couldn't beat Andorra's press. Been literally zero signs of progress. We're wasting our time persisting with him.

gormdubhgorm

Nerdlingr wrote: »

No wonder he referenced Osaka yesterday. He is so poor in expressing/explaining himself in front of the camera. Badly needs to up his media training.

Not only that stuff. The bit that stood out to me was Kenny said that Andorra were ‘well drilled’ not once but twice! It made me shout at telly ‘well drilled?!’ I am one who is willing to give him time etc. Mainly because the squad is so poor and there are few other options who the FAI could afford. And who want to manage Ireland? Kenny seems to have a real ‘stop gap’ air about him. As soon as there is a chance for the FAI to get a better manager ‘on the cheap’ Kenny will be gone. It is like looking at a young lad doing a TY project so far. Let’s be honest!

Faugheen

Morrison J wrote: »

We blatantly don't have a manager to get the best out of them though no?

We were promised a team that would try and play football yet nearly a year in charge and we're resorting to long ball tactics as we couldn't beat Andorra's press. Been literally zero signs of progress. We're wasting our time persisting with him.

And how did it go? A 4-1 win.

Some people really are never happy. Complain about the style of play not working and say we should go back to what we're good at. We do that today, and now it's 'well we were promised a team that would try and play football'.

Nerdlingr

MD1990 wrote: »

Easy to criticise Kenny for being poor in interviews posting on a forum tbh.

I wouldnt be too bothered about it.

Bigger issue is the lack of players we have.

It's an observation. We, the public, can learn a lot from his answers. Whether he's seeing that things that we're seeing. What's his view on how the team is progressing, how his tactics are being implemented, how did we play, what needed to change, where we're going...you know ...football stuff!
It usually helps as manager to have good communication skills ... if anything to get the public invested in your project and behind you.

Staunton never lived down the "I'm the gaffer" line. How you represent yourself in the media can sometimes make or break you, especially if you don't want the results on the pitch speaking for themselves!!

sterz

ArielAtom wrote: »

Piss poor performance, against amateurs. They made us look like a group of amateurs. Kenny really needs his P45, so far out of his depth. Fitness is what win it, nothing else.

Exactly. Same should have been done with McCarthy in 2001 when Ireland went 1 down at home in front of 50,000 home fans and ended up beating them 3-1.

Francie Barrett

Funny game. It reminded me of our performance against Serbia, but in reverse. We pressed high early on there, got the first goal, but ended up knackered towards the end and started leaking goals. Same thing happened to Andorra today, they looked great for about 40 minutes, but there was nothing left in the tank after that and we had the quality to punish them.

Happy we got the win and delighted to see Parrott finally show some of his underage form in a senior game. With that all said, I never got the feeling the result was down to anything Kenny did, but rather the players ability shining through in the end. What was most concerning is just how uncomfortable we looked playing the ball out from the back again and there was no Duffy to blame this time. If Andorra have identified this as a weak area, lots of other teams are going to be pressing us very high up the pitch. Next time though, they will have the fitness and quality to be more effective in punishing us.

Morrison J

Faugheen wrote: »

And how did it go? A 4-1 win.

Some people really are never happy. Complain about the style of play not working and say we should go back to what we're good at. We do that today, and now it's 'well we were promised a team that would try and play football'.

That's not the point though. If we can't do it against a load of part-time footballers we aren't going to do it against decent teams in the future. The scoreline really isn't that important in games like today as long as we show signs of progress. We're clearly going backwards though off the evidence of that game.

Surely I can't be blamed for not being happy about us abandoning a style of play we've apparently been working on for nearly a year against part-time footballers. The signs are not good.